California – Page 2 – Lucy L Jones PhD LLC

Stanford Campus Addendum

I promise this will be the last post about the Stanford Campus, but there were so many beautiful sights there that I’m afraid I got carried away. For those of you who have never seen the campus, this will be something new. If you haven’t been there in a while, it will be a “remember when.”

Standing 285 feet high, the Hoover Tower (shown above) dominates the campus. It seems that no matter where you are, the Tower can be seen. President Herbert Hoover started a research center there and this tower is part of that institution.

I kept taking pictures of Hoover Tower, thinking each shot was better than the one before it. Here are only a couple of them for you.

Go here to see a great view of the campus from the Tower

Probably my enjoyment of the Stanford campus stems from my love of old buildings and homes, as well as campuses in general. The Old Fire Truck House (circa 1904) is one of those buildings full of character and still in beautiful condition.

The path in front of the Old Fire Truck House is such a luscious spot for sauntering – or biking.

Of course, there is a “new” fire truck house now, but it lacks the charm of the old one.

Near the Old Fire Truck House was this sign showing the way to the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) Community Resources Center and Women’s Community Center. I was pleased to see both of these.

These maps give you a good idea of the vast area of the campus. The first one shows where Stanford is located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

This map shows the specific area in Palo Alto that is Stanford property.

If you click on the second map, a larger image will enable you to see the location of the quad area I wrote about a few weeks ago and also where the Hoover Tower stands in relationship to the rest of the campus.

The campus includes not only the educational buildings, but the beautiful old faculty homes from the early 1950s. I could move right into any one of them with great ease.

I especially liked this one that reminds me of a fairyland castle. And I could just imagine sitting around a fireplace, discussing deep subjects with a few students.

Here is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s creations that now is the property of Stanford. It was the home of the provost until 1989.

Because this is mostly a blog about gardening, I couldn’t ignore all the horticultural beauty on the Stanford Campus. Palm Drive is one of the most spectacular roads into the campus that I have ever seen. A long sweep of road lined with palms is truly an amazing sight.

Large areas of brilliant poppies and other fresh blooms were everywhere.

Of course, the outstanding medical facilities of Stanford are well-known. Here is the Stanford Advanced Medicine Center.

The entrance to the Stanford Hospital and Clinics is sleek and modern.

In spite of all the glittering modern buildings, in spite of the charming old buildings, Stanford is still a typical college campus. This sight made me feel right at home!

A hui hou!

A Trip Around the Stanford Quad

It seems that most large universities, as well as some smaller ones, have a “quad.” When I was a campus minister at University of Arizona, there was a massive quad where students and faculty hung out, played Frisbee, studied, slept, nuzzled with someone special, or whatever else they could find to do.

For an old college instructor like me, being on the quad of any school is thrilling. From the moment I first set foot in a classroom as a teacher, from kindergarten through university, I have loved teaching and being on a campus, being a part of campus life. I think I’d be deliriously happy just hanging out in a university library doing research in musty old tomes.

My visit to Stanford University (guided by a friend who is a Professor Emeritus from the Medical School there) included their quad. He added to my limited knowledge of the campus.

As we approached the main building of the quad, I was drawn to the floral arrangement in the center of the vast lawn.

It wasn’t until I stood a little elevated and distant from the floral arrangement that I realize the flowers created a large “S” for Stanford. I wondered if everyone else who visits miss it at first like I did.

Everything about the Stanford campus has history behind it. A walk along the corridor of the main building takes us back more than a century.

One of the stones on the floor of the corridor commemorated the centennial.

Each graduating class added a stone showing the year. This is the first one, laid by the graduating class of 1892!

You can walk along the corridor and see a class for every single year since then. A nice tradition!

And here is the latest one – for the class of 2009.

One of the pillars shows some of the damage done by the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989, almost twenty years ago. You can read more about it here and here.

Other news articles discuss the donations and work done to renovate the Stanford campus . . .

. . .and how it looked 15 years later.

That last link has excellent pictures and history of the quake, including more information about the World Series that had to be cancelled that day. To read about damage that is more specific to Stanford, go here.

One dominating attraction on the quad is the Memorial Church

This chapel was built by Jane Lathrop Stanford in memory of her husband, Leland Stanford in 1899.

This close-up shows the intricate and exquisite mosaic artwork.

Due to regular church services being held, visitors were not permitted to enter, so I took many shots outside. I loved this sign in several languages.

The courtyard of the chapel offers areas to stroll, rest, meditate.

The jacaranda were in full bloom in the chapel courtyard.

So many tucked away treasures like these side doors of the church.

Every detail was considered, as evidenced by this mosaic floor in the foyer of the chapel.

I have included a slide show below of all photos I took around the chapel, many more than are in this post. Today, I end with a shot of these marvelous sculptures near the chapel. In a few weeks, I will do another post that shows the individual statues and who they represent.

A hui hou!

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

To watch a larger version of this slideshow, click here, then click on the large arrow.

San Mateo in Bloom

ROSES ON A PICKET FENCE

I hope you aren’t sick and tired of seeing photos out of California. Even though I lived there for many years, I had forgotten how brilliant the flowers could be. Part of the time I was there for my May-June visit, I stayed with friends who live in San Mateo. We walked all over their neighborhood and I was stunned by the abundance of beautiful roses. The geraniums are like weeds in California!

Please enjoy the photos! There isn’t much I can add about them, so I’ve put them here in a slide show for you.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

I suggest that you go here to get the slideshow in a larger version and get the full benefit of the beauty.

Tiptoe through the…Sweet Peas?

I must have gotten to the market on California Avenue in Palo Alto too late in the season to see tulips, but there were plenty of other flowers to enjoy! The sweet aroma of huge bunches of sweet peas was almost overpowering. These in the above photo gave my room a wonderful ambience.

Other flowers that were in great abundance were the gerberas, iris, roses, dahlias and so many other spring blooms.

Brilliant yellow iris filled buckets everywhere I looked, almost in competition with the various colors of the cauliflower in the background.

Flowers everywhere! Of course, I was so envious of any farmer who had enough good soil to grow this kind of beauty. When I got home, however, I was happy to see so many of my canna, daylilies, and gladiolus bulbs had grown. I’ll show those on next week’s post.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many Canterbury Bells in one spot in my life! The color combination of these blossoms with raspberries was like eye candy for the soul.

Even though I live in “orchid land,” I still get a thrill at the sight of the Phaleonopsis (also spelled Phalaeonopsis), also often called the moth orchid.

I was pleased to see a display of eco-pots. Produced by the Sweetwater Nursery in Sepastapol, these pots can replace your clay or plastic pots. They are made of substances that are by-products of renewable and sustainable crops. Even when they can no longer be used, the pots are biodegradable.

Cole Canyon Farm had so many wonderful varieties of herbs. Please visit their site for information on purchasing and growing not only herbs, but veggies and fruits. I was especially interested in this display of mints. I didn’t know there were so many varieties. I want to taste them all!

I wanted to bring home one of each of these! I’ve looked all over for seeds for some of these varieties.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of these aromatic thymes, mostly because the saying by the famous “anonymous” is so correct! I may start using that as part of my signature on emails. Currently, I use “live gently on the earth,” another philosophy I attempt to adhere to.

This basket of basil looks like the profusion of sweet basil I grow in my own garden. I will soon make up a big batch of fresh pesto when I harvest mine. I can’t use up enough of it on a daily basis.

The New Natives company started out almost thirty years ago with wheatgrass as their original product. Since then, they have branched out into all kinds of healthy sprouts. This crop is experiencing renewed popularity. You can read about some of the health benefits here.

I need to tell you that there is so much more at this market than just fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs. These next few photos come in the “miscellaneous” category, but they are as important as anything else I’ve talked about in these posts.

For example, who couldn’t resist having fresh pasta?

I absolutely adore fresh oysters! Too bad that we have to import our oysters from Washington and the East Coast here.

In Hawaii, we have our “huli huli chicken” – an enormous rotisserie along the side of the road that sends delicious smells into your open car window as you drive by. At this California market, I found RoliRoti Chicken.

Of course, no one can go to the Bay Area without eating hot sour dough bread. Pardon me while I drool for a few minutes!

At the end of the rows of produce, there was this musician giving us a background that was totally in keeping with the ambience of the market.

I’ll end this series on the California Avenue Farmers’ Market with a scene that is familiar to those who live in the Bay Area, or visit there often. I think most people understand when I say that I both miss it and don’t miss it. In case you want to go back and check out the other two in this series, go here and here.

Next week, I’m going to give you a break from California and show you an update of my garden. Things are beginning to grow again.

In the meantime, you might like to enjoy a slideshow of the California Avenue photos all in one place.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
Click here to see a full sized slide show.

A hui hou!

Veggie Farmers on California Avenue

CALIFORNIA AVENUE MARKET

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the fruits at the California Avenue Farmers’ Market in Palo Alto. The fruits and veggies were intermingled with flowers and other products, which I’ll show you next week. This week it’s time for your veggies.

Across the way from Joanie’s Café where we ate a fantastic breakfast, there was the “asparagus and potato” stand. That’s the first stand that really caught my attention. When I shop in my local grocery store, I might have a choice of two or three kinds of potatoes, but look at the variety here – with fresh asparagus, no less!

I learn so much when I write these posts! I hadn’t noticed the name “Zuckerman’s Farms” on the canopy of this stand until I was writing, so I looked it up on Google. This farmer is part of an organization called CUESA, which means “the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture,” a topic about which I’m extremely interested.

The many varieties of common vegetables we often take for granted were obvious at this market. Of course, it was all fun and educational to see them, but I have to admit to a degree of envy that people have this at their disposal every week of the year! Check out these colorful cauliflower varieties.

Here is more cauliflower with artichokes and broccoli. . .

And how about all these fava beans??

So many beautiful varieties of string beans!

I’m not quite sure if sauerkraut qualifies as a vegetable or not, but it’s certainly made out of a veggie – and mighty good stuff it is, too! I grew up in Midwest German neighborhoods eating sauerkraut, spare ribs and mashed potatoes, almost all of it homemade. I absolutely adore sauerkraut whether cold from a jar, or slowly cooked with thick pork ribs. My dad made sauerkraut in our basement, until a batch blew up and ended up all over the ceiling! Needless to say, this stand caught my attention right away.

Squash is another vegetable I love, so I try to eat as many varieties that I can – both summer and winter squashes. There are amazing displays of fresh-picked squash. Here are at least two links to information about the Happy Boy Farms.

Behind these beautiful squash boxes, you see seedlings ready for people to take home and plant. I was so inspired when I came back home, that I put some seeds in little pots and other seeds I put directly into the ground. Everything is up!

I was surprised to see so many root vegetables. I usually think of them as fall or winter crops, but in a place like California (and actually in Hawaii, too) I think almost anything can be grown at any time of year. That was my experience when I lived in California, and it’s my experience here in Hawaii.

TURNIP ROOTS AND MORE

PARSNIPS, GARLIC, RADISHES

Sugar snap peas are among my favorite spring/summer veggies. This is a beautiful display of the basket overflowing with goodness. I have sugar snap peas coming up in my garden right now, which shows just how cool it is here this time of year. That’s not how most people think of Hawaii.

What a delight to see so many mushrooms! This is a delicious, low calorie product that can be a special addition to almost any recipe. They also can stand alone on their own. If you haven’t discovered the versatility of mushrooms, just Google mushroom recipes.

It’s worth making a special trip to California Avenue in Palo Alto on a Sunday morning just to do your week’s grocery shopping. Join others in making this a Sunday tradition. Next week, I’ll post flowers and other items available at the market.

I apologize to those vendors I don’t mention or for whom I don’t provide a link. I looked up all of the names I could read on my photos. Next time I get to this market, I’ll be more diligent in my efforts and ask!

A hui hou!